Transplantation Immunology

Abstract

The idea of whole organ transplantation for the purpose of replacement of disabled organs appears to date back to ancient times. As early as the second centruy B.C. the Chinese surgeon Pien Chiao is reputed, by legend, to have operated painlessly and transplanted successfully the hearts of two patients. However apocryphal the above example, the concept of organ transplantation seems to have occupied even the minds of the ancients. It was however, not until the development of adequate vascular anastomoses by Carrel and Guthrie (1,2) that technically feasible organ transplantation of vascularized grafts could be accomplished. Despite technical success however, the results of these early workers were discouraging. Successful transplantation awaited the definition of the histocompatibility barrier, its genetic control, and the immunobiologic mechanisms involved in graft rejection.